If technology is shaking up asset management distribution in the UK, then Vanguard is a looming earthquake.
Vanguard is looking to launch a direct to consumer platform in the U.K., and asset managers are feeling the heat. Last year KMPG noted that technology companies’ direct to consumer business and distribution models could make them “the next big powerhouses in investment management.” But technology companies seem a few steps off from fund management, and Vanguard is already in the business.
“If [Vanguard] decides to go direct in the UK, rather than through advisers, they’re the ones who could really disseminate the market and really come in here and really shake things up,” SCM Private’s Gina Miller told the Financial Times. Vanguard certainly has a step up from tech companies with its household name and cheap prices, and it has already launched a retail online platform in the U.S. Cue the heat beneath your collar.
Other asset managers are moving quickly to get ahead of feared investment platforms by Google, Amazon, or other tech giants that have flirted with the idea of fund management. Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management announced last fall that it was prepping an online investment manager for self-directed investors. ING Investment Management also said last year that it would expand its online execution-only distribution to new European markets. Aviva too intends to launch an investment platform in the U.K.
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